The rest of the day seemed to drag on as Nishikata thought about nothing but how to get to the convenience store as fast as he could. 'Most likely Takagi will want us to walk home together, I'm going to have to turn her down if she asks.' At the thought of that, Nishikata felt a cold sensation in his chest that caused him to grab his shirt. 'I'm doing this to get the best chance to get one over on her, it's well worth losing a smaller opportunity.' The coldness in his chest waned a little, and he breathed a sigh of relief. 'Good, now I need to get ready, the bell can ring any second now.' He looked over to the clock to see that the bell was, in fact, about to ring at any moment. 'If I walk to fast, I could get in trouble for running in the hall, thankfully I'll be able to run when I get out of the school, and then it's-'

"Nishikata?" Takagi asked interrupting his thought process. "You wanna walk home together today?"

Nishikata slowly turned to look at her as the strange feeling began to overtake him once again. "I ... I can't, I promised a friend I'd meet them later after school."

"Hm?" She asked with a curious look on her face. "You must have big plans if you're that anxious to hang out with them."

"Huh?"

Takagi pointed to his leg, which he just noticed was bouncing up and down.

"Oh, yeah." He scratched the back of his head and tried to smile to hide the fact that he was lying. "There's ... a new video game that he wants me to try and it sounds like a lot of fun." 'I can't tell her I'm going to get concert tickets; I need to make it look like I just happen to get them, otherwise she'll suspect I'm planning something.'

She looked at him with a disappointed expression. "That's a lie."

"Ack!" The bell rang signaling the end of the school day, and Nishikata grabbed his bag and bolted to his feet. "I'msorrywecanwalkhometogethertomorrowby!" He blurted out before bolting for the door, then rounding a corner into the hall.

He was lucky there weren't many teachers there, and he was able to quickly get to his locker and change his shoes with ease. 'I'm amazed at how well this is going.' He began running again with his eyes focused on the door. 'But I can't let my guard down if I'm to get these tickets!' As soon as he was out of the school, he bolted towards the convenience. 'All that exercise is paying off again, at this rate I'll be sure to get there before they sell out!'

He ran as fast as he could, and as soon as he reached his destination, he jumped inside and looked around until he found the counter with a sign advertising the concert. 'There'

He rushed over and slammed his hand on the counter. "I'd like to buy two tickets for the concert this Friday please!" Time seemed to slow down for a moment, at first he felt victorious, but he quickly realized that his voice wasn't the only one that uttered those words. 'Don't tell me-' He looked to his right to see Hamaguchi, also with his hand on the counter looking just as surprised as he was, and on his left was Takao with the same expression. 'This feels like it's going to quickly become an issue.' "Uh, so I think that's ... six total?"

The woman behind the counter gave a nervous smile. "That's ... going to be a problem ... there's only three left."

"Only three?!" Takao asked incredulously.

"That's not going to be enough for all of us." Hamaguchi said as he looked down.

"That's not even going to be enough for two of us." Takao added.

"But how's that possible!?" Nishikata exclaimed. "School ended less than five minutes ago!"

Hamaguchi began scratching his chin. "Some kids must have come in while sick or snuck out during free period after lunch.".

Nishikata growled in frustration. "Well, are there any more in the back?"

"These were the ones in the back, we thought we sold out hours ago but we managed to find three more."

'Figures.' Nishikata thought to himself. 'The best opportunity to get back at Takagi isn't going to come easy, I need to convince everyone else to give me the tickets.' "Hey, guys, I think since I got here first-"

"What are you talking about Nishikata!?" Hamaguchi exclaimed. "I totally got here before you."

"I'm the fastest in our grade, that's not possible." Nishikata retorted.

"My last class for the day was right around the entrance to the school, I even saw you on my heels as I got to the counter."

"No, I got here fir-" He paused mid sentence and turned to face Takao. "Wait a second, how did you get here so fast?"

"I uh ..." Takao began as he scratched the back of his head. "Well, class ended while I was in the bathroom so I was closer to the exit."

"You mean you snuck out before school ended?" Nishitaka asked with a disbelieving expression.

"You can't prove that." Takao said. "Anyway, I need them more than any of you."

"And how's that?" Hamaguchi asked.

"Both of you are practically already dating your crush, I need this to get closer to mine."

"Wait," Nishikata began as he began to blush. "What do you mean by ... practically dating?"

"Don't play dumb, I mean you and Takagi."

"For the absolute last time TAKAGI AND I ARE NOT-"

"I need these way more that you do!" Hamaguchi interrupted. "I can use this chance to finally make Houjou and myself official, it's my best chance."

"I'm never going to have another chance like this either!" Nishikata exclaimed. "Being at the concert might be the only time when Takagi would drop her guard, so it'll be the only time I can get back at herr for teasing me all the time!"

"Even if we were to believe you, what plan do you have to accomplish that?" Hamaguchi asked.

"I ... I haven't thought that part out just yet." Nishikata began grinding his teeth as he looked down and to the left. "But I have a few days, I can think up a prank, or contest or-"

"Contest?" Hamaguchi asked intrigued.

"Yeah, she always finds a way to best me or outsmart me ... this might just be the only chance I get."

"I have an idea then." Hamaguchi began. "We could simply have a competition of our own to see who gets the tickets." Both of the other boys looked at Hamaguchi surprised, yet intrigued. "It's the fairest way to settle this, don't you agree?"

Takao pushed Nishikata to the side and walked closer to Hamaguchi. "What would we be doing?"

"Simple really." He said with a smile. "We all want to take a girl with us to the concert." He paused and looked to Nishikata. "For one reason or another. So to insure that they don't go to waste, we have to ask out the person we wish to take with us first."

"NOW HOLD ON!" Takao shouted. "This contest is heavily ridged in both of your favors."

"That's why each of us also has something else we have to do to make it fair."

"Like what?" Nishikata asked.

Hamaguchi face showed a mix of shock and concern. "That I ... don't know yet."

"Then how about this." Nishikata began as he raised a finger. "You have to ask Houjou out as a date, not just to hang out as friends or something, and you can't even mention the concert to her until she says yes."

Hamaguchi became terrified at Nishitaka's suggestion. "You ... you can't be serious?"

"It has to be fair, right?" Nishikata asked confidently.

"It sounds fair to me." Takao added.

"Fine then!" Hamaguchi exclaimed. "Then you have to be holding Takagi's hand, and ask her out."

Nishikata's face went bright red as his jaw dropped. "How ... how can I even prove that I accomplished that?"

Takao scratched his chin and began to think. "Well, we could have a ref, and it would be rather straightforward for Hamaguchi to prove he asked Houjou out, and Nishikata could just be holding Takagi's hand when he collects the tickets. But who would we ask?"

"Uh-" Came a voice from behind them. As soon as they turned around, they noticed that Yukari was standing right behind them. "I don't know what you guys are arguing about, but could you hurry up so I can get my ticket?"

Nishikata and the others shared a knowing smile as Nishitaka turned back to the woman behind the register. "I think each of us will be buying one mam."

"Finally." She said under her breath.

After each of them bought their ticket, they moved to the side as Yukari moved up to the register. "Hi, I'd like-"

"Sorry, those three bought the last three."

Yukari's expression went from hopeful to devastated in the span of about one second. "You ... can't be serious."

"Why do you think they were arguing for so long?" The woman asked.

Yukari looked over to the three boys, looking at them in disbelief. "I ... how?"

Nishikata held up the ticket he bought and looked at her. "Would you be willing to help us with our contest? We'll give you one ticket if you do."

Yukari's eyes lit up as she walked over to them. "Wait, really?"

"Yup, free of charge."

He handed her the ticket and she looked at it for a moment before looking back up at Nishikata. "What do I have to do?"

Nishikata looked at Takao and Hamaguchi and motioned for them to hand their tickets over. "Simply give two of these tickets to whichever of us comes to you with the girl we're taking to the concert Friday."

Yukari's face lit up with delight. "Oh that's so romantic! Three boys fighting it out for the chance to go on a romantic date with the girl of their dreams!"

"I'M NOT DATING-"

"Wait a second." Yukari interrupted as she turned to face Takao. "I can tell who Nishikata and Hamaguchi want to go to the concert with, but what about you Takao?" She asked. "I mean it wouldn't be very fair if I didn't know who you had to show up with."

Takao looked confused for only a moment before a look of utter terror overcame him. "Uh ... I'm starting to have second thoughts about having her as our ref"

"Wait a second." Nishikata began as he looked towards Takao. "Who ... is your crush?"

Takao looked away as his face turned bright red. "It's ... not really that important, is it?"

"He has a crush on Tsukimoto." Hamaguchi blurted out.

There was a moment of dead silence as Yukari processed Hamaguchi's words, and within seconds, she burst into laughter. "You mean Sanae? Are you serious?"

"What's the big idea!" Takao snapped.

"Well she needs to know who your crush is so that we can have a fair game, right?"

Takao turned to Yukari. "You can't tell anyone! EVER! In fact this whole contest has to stay a secret!"

"Huh?" Yukari stopped laughing and looked at Takao. "Why's that?"

"Because it would make it unfair, Nishikata could just walk up to Takagi and say, 'hey, I can win us a pair of concert tickets if you walk with me, or Hamaguchi could do something similar with Houjou."

"Oh, I see."

"So if anyone talks about this contest then they are disqualified!" He turns and faces the other two. "So, are we all in agreement?"

"Sure thing." Hamaguchi said as he clenched his fist.

Nishikata nodded. "May the best man win."